Some jobs fold at Harrah's.

• Position: Western - Harrah's Cherokee Casino

Fortune finally has frowned on Harrah's Cherokee Casino. Eleven years after opening, the casino has dealt its first layoffs, dropping employment from 1,800 to 1,700 after revenue slipped 8.5% last year. "When the customers aren't here, we don't need as many people to serve them," spokeswoman Joyce Dugan says.

The cuts come as tourism, heavily dependent on disposable income, declines. The region's unemployment rate jumped to 8.7% in December, nearly double the 4.6% it had been a year earlier. The Harrah's cuts, though too late to be reflected in the December statistics, are particularly noteworthy.

The casino is the state's largest employer west of Asheville and has pumped billions into the region's economy since opening in 1997. It's owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, but more than half of the workers live off the reservation, mostly in Swain, Jackson and Haywood counties. The tribe doesn't disclose profit, but outsiders estimate it netted about $250 million last year. That's split between tribal government, which uses its share to cover health care, police and other services, and its 1,350 members. Principal Chief...